I made a thread today in the other section concerning hallmark identification of some silver I had. After reading stuff on the web I came to the conclusion that the items I have are Silver Plated made by Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company Ltd.
Anyway, my mother inherited this from her late father who I would assume would have used this set. Is this silver plated holloware worth anything? It’s been locked up in a metal suitcase for about 20 years and I just opened it and wiped it up with a dry cloth.
Also, if anyone can tell me the best way to clean it, or should I just leave it as is. I have more stuff than in the picture and they all have a Coat of Arms on them, which i am assuming are my grandfather’s as he was a kind of states person but im not sure. Does the coat of arms add any value to it?
Also, is it better to clean or leave as is? As it is not sterling, does it still have any value as antiques? We don’t have much place for it at home, so it’s locked away in another location, i have no intention of selling, but like most am curious to know if there is any monetary value here due to them being antiques.
Basically plate has no value.
For you this has Family history and thereby value is added to you.
Coat of arms add value when it is a known person. In other cases no. AS this is not known to others than you - it makes no difference.
Clean or not? Normally I would always polish. However as you store in a place out of sight - no reason to clean. I your case I would see if I could use one item - clean that one leave rest as is.
Document history - you dont know wether one of your children would use? In that case no need to polish today - you will eventually remove plating. So let plate remain for future generations.
Contrary to popular opinion, some early silver plated pieces do have value, mainly due to the growing realisation that some of the early electroplaters turned out pieces of outstanding quality. Pieces by Elkington, James Dixon, Walker &Hall, Hukin & Heath amongst others are now fetching surpisingly prices.
Keep your G&S pieces safe and sometime in the future just think of me saying “I told you so!”
Thanks for the reply and advice Paul. I wasn’t thinking of selling it, i just wanted a realistic idea of it’s intrinsic value. Again, like you said in a few years it will be worth more than now. But I don’t think i will ever sell it
